TY - JOUR TI - The Drosophila Sp8 transcription factor Buttonhead prevents premature differentiation of intermediate neural progenitors AU - Xie, Yonggang AU - Li, Xiaosu AU - Zhang, Xian AU - Mei, Shaolin AU - Li, Hongyu AU - Urso, Andreacarola AU - Zhu, Sijun A2 - Bronner, Marianne E VL - 3 PY - 2014 DA - 2014/10/06 SP - e03596 C1 - eLife 2014;3:e03596 DO - 10.7554/eLife.03596 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03596 AB - Intermediate neural progenitor cells (INPs) need to avoid differentiation and cell cycle exit while maintaining restricted developmental potential, but mechanisms preventing differentiation and cell cycle exit of INPs are not well understood. In this study, we report that the Drosophila homolog of mammalian Sp8 transcription factor Buttonhead (Btd) prevents premature differentiation and cell cycle exit of INPs in Drosophila larval type II neuroblast (NB) lineages. We show that the loss of Btd leads to elimination of mature INPs due to premature differentiation of INPs into terminally dividing ganglion mother cells. We provide evidence to demonstrate that Btd prevents the premature differentiation by suppressing the expression of the homeodomain protein Prospero in immature INPs. We further show that Btd functions cooperatively with the Ets transcription factor Pointed P1 to promote the generation of INPs. Thus, our work reveals a critical mechanism that prevents premature differentiation and cell cycle exit of Drosophila INPs. KW - Sp8 KW - Buttonhead KW - intermediate neural progenitor KW - neuroblast KW - pointed KW - Prospero JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -